Liquid-dispenser.



A. E. HOLMES.

LIQUID DISPENSER.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 3. 1916.

Patented Dam 19, 1916 Lmm. wAsnmcmM, n c.

ill

UNITED s'rnrns raannr curios.

ALFBED.,E. HOLMES, QF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOIB, OLE ONE-HALF TO WILLIAM H.

. BLUNKET'I, OF CHICAGQILLINOIS;

mourn-msrnnsnn.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 19, 1916.

cago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a'certain new and useful Improvement in Llquld-Dlspensers,

of which the following is a specification.

My invention relatesto liquid dispensers including such as are employed in toilet rooms. forv dispensing liquid soap.-

The object of. the invention is to provide a simple and sure-acting device which will becheap to manufacture, easy to keep clean and which will always deliver a. uniform 1 amount of'liquid it operated in a natural manner.

I accomplish. my objects by the mechanism illustrated in the. accompanying drawings, in which- 2o Figure 1 is a side elevation of. a dispenser embodying myinvention, the lower portion of. the reservoir, cylinder and connected parts being axial section. Fig.- 2 shows thepartsat the lower end. of Fig. 1. In this'figure theplungers are shown in raised position. Fig; 3 is-a plan sectiononthe line 3-3,.Fig. 1. Fig. 4L is a perspectiveof the plunger and stem.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views. 7 p In the form. selected toillustrate the. invention, the reservoir is constructed preferablyof. glass a'ndsupported upon any suitable type of bracket or standard 2. At the topit. isprovided with ai cap 3 ofany suitiing upon the bottom of the reservoir. By tightening up this nut, the cylinder is rigidly supported upon the reservoir and leakage is prevented, Descending from the cylinder is an annular apron 12. This is of larger diameter than the cylinder. By preference, the cylinder, apron, flange 6 and chamber 8 are all formed from a single piece of metal.

The cylinder is of smaller diameter than the chamber-8 and thus forms a valve. seat lt at the base of the chamberwhich cooperates with a valve 15, located at the upper end of the. plunger 16. The valve 15 is of smaller diameter than chamber 8 and hence permitsthe liquid to passbetween it and the walls of the chamber. It is desirable to form laterally projecting fingers 18 at. difi erent points on the valve 15 which slide upon the internal walls'of the chamber. 8 and assist in: guiding the plunger. They also scrape the walls of the. chamber and thus prevent the collection of verdigris, or of hardened soap.

The' valve and plunger are normally held totheir seat by a coiled spring 20, the lower end whereof rests uponthe top of the valve 15 and the upper end abuts a screw collar 21 which screws into the inside of the chamber Set the upper end thereof. A boss 19 rising from the valve 15 keeps thelower end of the spring in place. The cylinder 5 is comparatively short for example, in an ordinary dispenser for toilet soap it may be threeeighths of an inch long, more or less. By

- preference, the plunger 16 is of about the same length as the cylinder and the parts are so proportioned that when the valve 15 is upon itsseat as in Fig. 1 the lower end of the plunger will comeon aclevel with the lower end of the cylinder. Beneath the plunger 16 is-a second plunger 25 connected to it by the stem- 26.- The distance between the lower. end ofthe upper plunger and the upper end of the lower plunger is slightly less than the. length-- of the cylinder th result being that one plunger will always enter the cylinder before the other plunger has left it. This is true no matter in what direction the parts are traveling. Extending downward from the lower plunger is a continuation 27 of the stem 26. By pref erence, the lower end of stem 27 is rounded to fit into the palm of the hand of the user and the parts are so designed that when the spring 20 is compressed and the plungers are as high as they will go, the top of the lower plunger will be approximately flush with the top of the cylinder and the lower end of the stem will be always as high as the lower end of the apron.

In operation, when the reservoir has been filled and the parts are assembled, gravity assisted by the spring 20, will normally hold the valve 15 seated. Under these conditions the chamber 8 will .be filled with liquid and the valve will prevent the liquid from descending below the lower end of the chamber. hen the operator wishes to obtain liquid, he presses upward on the stem 27. As the valve 15 rises, the liquid in the chamber 8 will pass by it, downward, but no liquid will flow into the cylinder until the'lower end of the upper plunger has risen above the upper end of thecylinder. When this occurs, the liquid will flow down into the cylinder, but by this time the lower end of the cylinder will be closed by the lower plunger and hence the liquid will be confined in the annular space between the two plungers. After the space between the plungers has thus been filled, it is immaterial whether the plungers travel any farther or not, provided that the liquid has had time to fill the space. Consequentlythe operator need not take pains to produce any specific amount of movement, of the stem. As soon as the space between the two plungers has been filled and the operator lowers his hand, spring 20, acting in harmony with gravity, will cause the plunger-s to descend until the lower plunger completely leaves the cylinder, whereupon the liquid is free to run down arou'ndthe outside of the lower plunger between it and the inside of the apron 12.

From the foregoing it willfbe evident that for every stroke of the plunger stem a definite quantity of liquid will be delivered provided the operator manipulatesthe parts in a natural manner and gives the liquid time to flow down and fillthe space between the two plungers. The liquid cannot run through, for the space between the plungers will never communicate with the space above and below the cylinder; hence, my device constitutes a measuring dispenser in the sense that it will always deliver a fixed quantity of liquid. By preference, the two Copies of this patent may be obtained for five centseach, byaddressing the Washington, 11.0.

chamber, for guiding plungers and their stems, together with the valve 15 and boss 19 are preferably turned from a single piece ofmet'al, and hence it follows that, except for-the reservoir, nuts and washers, the device is formed practically from only two pieces of metal. These pieces are of simple configuration and can be easily made and hence are easy to manufacture and easy to keep clean. Furthermore, there is, practically speaking, nothing to get out of order. There will be practically no possibility of soap caking on the inside of the mechanism for the plunger-s and valve are free to rotate and as'the fingers 18 will thus slide along different parts of theinner wall of the chamber 8 during successive journeys they will tend to cover all parts of the surface in due time and hence keep the entire surface clean. 1

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is: i

In a liquid dispenser, a reservoir, a cylindrical chamber communicating therewith, a

vertically'arranged cylinder at the lower end of said chamber, said cylinder being :of smaller diameter than the-chamber, a valve seat'formed at the junction ofthe chamber and cylinder, a stem, twin plungers secured to said stem one above theother, said plungers'being closer t'ogetherthan the length of the cylinder, and a valve-formed at the upper end of the upper plunger, an'd'adapted to seat upon said valve seat, said valve being of smaller diameter'thauthe chamber,

and a plurality of separate" fingers projecting radially from said valve and making sliding contact'with the inner walls of the ing the walls of the chamber. 7

In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name. 7

, ALFRED .nnoLMns;

Commissioner of Patents,

the plungerand scrap- 

